1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for use in assemblying individual food portions on service trays which are to be transported to a remote location. 2. Description of the Prior Art
The pre-preparation of food trays containing hot and cold food portions, together with the necessary eating and drinking utensils, is routinely carried out in institutions such as hospitals, rest homes and in commercial kitchens for meal preparation for airlines. Various systems for food assembly have been devised for use in the above places. However, most of the systems are permanent and fixed in place and are thus quite expensive and do not provide for very much flexibility in floor space utilization and/or modification of the food assemblying procedure. The most frequently used tray assembly system in hospitals has been the straight line conveyer used in conjunction with hot and cold food counters arranged perpendicularly to the conveyer that requires a large amount of floor space which is extremely costly in commercial kitchens. In some previous food assembly systems, the fixed hot food wells and cold trays are set in permanent counter installations wherein a conveyer belt runs parallel to the counter on the side opposite where the food attendant stands, thus requiring them to reach across the hot pans and cold plates to place food portions on the trays as they move past the attendants. While the prior art has recognized the advantage of having a portable system for meal assembly, the layout of the systems have been conventionally the same as those utilized in fixed installations. More recent mobile or portable food assembly systems have utilized a conveyer assembly carrying the trays around the peripheral portion of the cabinet and have the bulk food containers or pans mounted on shelves positioned inwardly of the tray conveyer. Such an arrangement requires the attendants to reach across the trays and place the individual food portions thereon. Additionally, the bulk food pans must be put in place and removed when empty across the top of the conveyer carrying the food trays, thus requiring the food attendants to move out of position during the placement of the bulk foods. The system also suffers another disadvantage in that contamination can occur from foreign material that may drop from the underside of the bulk food receptacles as they are moved in and out across the tray conveyor assembly.
Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need in the food service industry for a compact, unitary food assembly system that occupies a small amount of floor space, that preferably is readily movable from one location to another, and that provides convenience and cleanliness in assemblying the various food portions onto serving trays.